The Hard Choice
by UnattemptedFeat
Summary: Sometimes the right choice is the hardest one to make.
1. As She Turns Away

**Author's Note** **: Hola, good peoples! I hope everyone is doing brilliantly.**

 **So this was something that was bouncing around my brain. I am going to give it a try. It is very different from everything else I've done. I just...it was really bugging me.**

 **Please review.**

 **Also, Kat is about eighteen in this one. So Sam is twenty-seven, and Dean is thirty-one. Not that the boys' ages matter in this, but I'm that OCD.**

 **Without further ado...**

As she walked out the door, Kat couldn't help but glance back.

Sam hadn't budged since she'd left the bed they shared. Dean was still snoring softly in the other one, the one closest to the door. Kat always thought that they didn't look as troubled while they slept. She wondered if she looked like that too when she was asleep.

Recently, she definitely hadn't. She couldn't remember the last time she had gotten a good night's sleep in the past two weeks.

Each night she had worried over what to do. She knew what the right choice was, but it was also the hardest one. The one that would mean leaving Sam and Dean for a while.

Of course, she fully intended to come back. She just had to take care of this first.

Kat _had_ left a note. It was on the pillow her head had left minutes before. She hoped that they wouldn't try and find her. She hadn't exactly explained why she was leaving- she just couldn't. Not to Sam and Dean. This was too personal. For once, she had to do this on her own.

She was an adult now. Kat had turned eighteen three months ago. She could take care of herself. She could handle this. She had to handle this.

Kat closed the door, praising the sleeping pills she'd slipped into Sam and Dean's beers earlier. Walking out into the parking lot, Kat felt her eyes tear up.

She quickly scrubbed at her eyes as she hotwired the blue truck parked in the corner. Pulling out of the parking lot, Kat decided to be honest with herself.

She was terrified. She was scared. And now...

She was alone.


	2. Missing a Vital Piece

**Author's Note** **: Hola, mes amis! I hope that everyone is doing well today!**

 **Here we go, the next chapter.**

 **This fic isn't really set in any specific season. It is kind of just floating in the midst of Supernatural space. But let's say that it's more like the mid-2000s. So I don't have to deal with smart phones and all that crap.**

 **Without further ado...**

It was the cold that woke Sam. Or really an absence of heat.

He reached out tentatively, not wanting to wake Kat, but also seeking to assure himself that she was still there.

She wasn't.

Sam sat up, glancing around for his little sister. The bathroom light was off, and he didn't see her sitting at the table. Sam got out of bed quietly, not wanting to wake Dean. Yet.

Kat's duffle and backpack were gone. Now very worried, Sam turned to rouse his brother when he noticed the piece of paper sitting on Kat's empty pillow. He took a deep breath and picked it up, bracing himself for whatever he would read.

 _First off, let me just tell you that I'm sorry. I truly am._

 _I know that you'll kick my ass for this when I come back (I will come back, I promise.), but there's something I need to do, and I have to do it alone._

 _Even though I know you won't listen I still have to ask you to please not try and find me. And since I know that you will still try to, know that I've covered my tracks well._

 _I'm coming back, I promise._

 _Love,_

 _Kat_

Sam sank onto the bed behind him and sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "Dean," he called softly. His brother didn't stir. "Dean!" Sam said more loudly.

Dean groaned sleepily, "What?" He rolled away from Sam to face the door, keeping his eyes closed.

"Dean," Sam choked slightly. "Dean, Kat's gone."

"What?" Dean rolled back over quickly, sitting up and putting his feet on the floor. "What do you mean 'gone'?"

Sam held out Kat's note, and Dean grabbed it frantically. Sam watched as his brother's eyes took in their sister's words.

He waited for Dean to finish reading before asking, "Dean, what do we do?"

"We find her, that's what," Dean threw the note aside and got up. "Pack your crap, we leave in ten."

"Where are we going?" Sam knew his brother wasn't going to like it, but Sam needed to be the voice of reason.

Dean sighed, going back to sit across from Sam, "You're right, Sammy. We need to figure this out. Call Cas, Bobby, Jody, Garth. Hell, we'll even call Crowley. Get everybody looking out for signs of her, and see what they know about her leaving."

Sam was relieved that Dean was keeping his head. Sam himself was trying to, but all he could think about was why Kat had left. Was she being threatened? What did she need to take care of? Why had she been keeping from him and Dean? All these questions plagued Sam, but he knew he needed to keep it together.

In an unspoken agreement, Dean called Bobby first and put the phone on speaker.

" _Singer_."

"Hey, Bobby," Dean cleared his throat.

" _Hey, Dean_ ," Bobby answered. " _What can I do for ya?_ "

Dean's breath hitched, so Sam spoke for him, "Kat's gone, Bobby. She left this morning. She wrote a note saying there's something she needs to take care of, and we were wondering if you happened to know anything about it."

" _I'm sorry, boys. I don't know what she's talking about,_ " Bobby's tone became serious. " _I'll keep an eye out for her, and I'll call around. You should get in touch with that angel of yours. Maybe even drop a line for that British demon while you're at it. It couldn't hurt._ "

"Thanks, Bobby," Dean said quietly.

" _We'll find her,_ " Bobby was determined. " _You boys be safe_." With that, he hung up.

After calling both Jody and Garth, Dean looked to the ceiling and prayed, "Oh, Castiel. Get your feathery ass down here pronto!"

"Hello, Dean," Cas appeared in the hotel room. He seemed to sense the tension. "What's going on? Where's Kat?"

"She's gone," Sam replied. He passed Castiel the note, not wanting to have to explain it again.

Cas nodded solemnly, and he closed his blue eyes. After a moment, he said, "I cannot sense her. She's shielded herself from me."

"She did say she'd covered her tracks," Dean remarked, sighing. He dropped his head into his hands, carding them through his short hair.

Sam texted Crowley. _Kat's gone, and we need your help. Please come now._ He also typed the address of the hotel, hoping that Crowley would show up.

Crowley appeared almost instantly, crisp as usual in his suit, "So we've lost Katarina, have we?"

"Shut up, Crowley," Dean growled. "Do you know where she is or not?"

"I don't," the demon replied. He folded his hands. "But even if I did, why would I tell you?"

"Because," Dean began, bristling threateningly, "this is Kat. I know that you don't like me and Sam, and we hate you too. But Kat's never done anything against you, she's even talked us into helping you before. So you owe her."

"I will find Katarina," Crowley snapped back. "But have you stopped to consider that she may not want to be found? She's not a child anymore, Squirrel. She can take care of herself."

Sam cut in before Dean could throttle the demon, "We just want to make sure that she's okay. She could be in trouble."

"I said I would find her," Crowley continued. "I didn't say that I would tell you where she is." Crowley vanished, leaving a snarling Dean behind.

"Demons are such dicks!" Dean shouted at the empty air where Crowley had been standing.

"I thought angels were the dicks," Cas looked so innocently confused that Dean deflated with a chuckle.

"Demons and angels are both dicks, Cas," Dean amended.


End file.
